GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Planned demolition of a 140-year-old West Side house is on hold, giving time for the city to decide if the structure merits preservation as a historic landmark.

Grand Rapids City Commission has declared an emergency moratorium on removal of the house at 2500 Lake Michigan Dr. NW, and appointed a 5-member committee to study whether the property should become a protected historic district.

Shaffer, Mayor George Heartwell, Second Ward Commissioners Rosalynn Bliss and Ruth Kelly and Third Ward Commissioner Elias Lumpkins voted to put a hold on demolition and appoint the committee. First Ward Commissioner Walt Gutowski and Third Ward Commissioner Senita Lenear were absent from the Aug. 20 meeting.

The study committee – Ed Kettle, Jon O'Connor, Tom Pfister, Jerri Schmidt and Rebecca Smith-Hoffman – will evaluate the property’s historic value and make a recommendation to City Commission on establishing it as a historic district.

“I was kind of shocked because I didn’t know at that (Aug. 12) meeting if we made much of an impact,” said Katie Dubiel, who petitioned City Commission to appoint a study committee. “I’m just glad that they’re looking into it because that’s all I really wanted was more time.”

“All we’re asking for is for somebody to look into it. If nothing comes of it, I’ll probably be a little devastated but at least I tried.”

The house had been approved for demolition last month by the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals, prompting three sisters who grew up in the house to petition Grand Rapids leaders to halt the razing. Covenant Village of the Great Lakes, a senior housing provider, bought the home from the sisters’ family in 2006 and plans to remove it.

City Commission three years ago in a 5-2 vote declined to appoint a historic study committee for the former St. Andrew’s School in Grand Rapids. That building then was torn down to make room for redevelopment at Cathedral Square.

Grand Rapids in 2012 added Congress School, 940 Baldwin St. SE, to an existing historic district after a study was done.